Nimhans, health department launch stroke protocol

BENGALURU : Karnataka sees 70,000 to 80,000 cases of stroke each year. On World Stroke Day (October 29), the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences along with the state Health and Family Welfare Department launched a one-of-its-kind, pre- and post-hospital system of care management for stroke cases. This includes a training programme for doctors and nurses in stroke care.

On the occasion, it also released a stroke brochure and stroke or brain attack factsheet and a guide.
Dr G Gururaj, Director, Nimhans, said, ‘’Stroke treatment is restricted to places such as Bengaluru and Mysuru compared to other districts of Karnataka.

We will train 20 government hospitals in and around Bengaluru in handling stroke cases and then expand it to other districts.” The institute will train 90-100 nurses and 60-70 doctors over three years and will develop a system of orderly transfer of patients across hospitals in the government sector. The total project will run for four years. 

Dr Srijitesh, Additional Professor of Neurology and In charge of the project, said, ‘’The golden period is  4.5 hours, by which time, patients must reach the hospital. Every 15 minutes, brain cells die during a stroke. The earlier they come, the better the outcome. However, most people come late as they go to local doctors or nearby facilities.

Time is lost in referring the person to another hospital.” Nimhans bears the brunt of referrals as it sees 300-odd stroke cases per month and is able to manage only 10 per cent of them. The stroke programme, launched online on Thursday, will take place offline later.

“The second aspect of this programme is upgrading infrastructure of these hospitals to treat stroke cases. They will be developed as part of a ‘Hub and Spoke’ network cluster in Bengaluru with Nimhans as a central hub,” said Dr Srijitesh.